This morning some cattle were just inside the field where I usually begin my
farm circle. Bridge won’t go near the cows, so I set out up Wash Gunn road to
begin the circle instead. Turned out to be a lucky choice because a Wood Duck
pair were on a little pond right by the road that I don’t normally cover on the
farm circle. Didn’t file an eBird report for that because I wanted to finish
positioning a diesel storage tank ahead of the rain as soon as I got home. That
took the rest of the morning and into the afternoon.
Decided late to hit Parsons Pond but I didn’t want to wear boots on such a warm
day. I walked down as far as I could on the sod waterway and scanned. Saw
nothing but a couple of Mallards. It was so windy at that time, I decided
pictures were impossible even if something was there, so I gave up and started
back to the truck. I spotted something I hadn’t seen earlier when I got back to
the road. It was a pair of Buffleheads, so I headed back toward the pond,
hoping to get closer. About the time I was nearing a spot where tI could barely
see over the intervening small rise, and Army helicopter passed over. There had
been lots of ducks just beneath my horizon and they all took flight and settled
back down further out. I kept approaching in hopes that a few hadn’t gone out
further and revealed some more Buffleheads, Blue-winged Teals and Coots. The
wind also stopped, allowing me to get semi-passable photos. Should have
wondered why the wind stopped. Remember the old saying, “It’s calmest before
the storm?” That’s what was about to happen, but not before I made it back to
the truck.
https://ebird.org/checklist/S65986485 ;<https://ebird.org/checklist/S65986485>
Frank Lyne
frank@xxxxxxxxxxx - near Dot in Logan County, KY
